The Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) was launched by the Government of India in 2005 under the umbrella of National Rural Health Mission. The JSY aims at reducing maternal and neonatal mortality and promoting institutional deliveries amongst poor women along with providing 24-hour emergency obstetric care. These are seen as a crucial means to achieve the JSY goal. After almost four years of operationalization and expenditure of Rs.1241 crores, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare felt the need to evaluate the scheme.

The JSY has special focus on low-performing states (states having low rate of institutional deliveries), Uttarakhand being one of them. The FRCH carried out an evaluative study in Dehradun and Bageshwar districts of Uttarakhand for the National Health Systems Resource Centre, New Delhi. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase focused on the public health care facilities throughout the district of Dehradun. A survey of District Hospital, community health centres, primary health centres and sub centres was taken up to assess the capacity of these centres in terms of nfrastructure and personnel. This was done with the help of record review, interviews with staff members and observation of facilities, supported by visual documentation.

The second phase focused on user perspective, interviewing women beneficiaries and community members in 30 villages of Bageshwar District. The exercise helped in assessing the reach and impact of the JSY.
Recommendations based on this data are expected to help in improving the efficacy of JSY and suggest approaches for improvement in other public-private partnership ventures of the government.